Federal judge orders fired female NSB firefighter rehired

A fired New Smyrna Beach female firefighter awarded $444,000 in her sexual harassment lawsuit against the city must also be rehired by the end of next month, a federal judge has ordered.

MARK I. JOHNSONSTAFF WRITER

A fired New Smyrna Beach female firefighter awarded $444,000 in her sexual harassment lawsuit against the city must also be rehired by the end of next month, a federal judge has ordered. District Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. said in his order filed Friday that the city has until July 31 to reinstate Melissa Ignasiak Smith to her former position with the same seniority, pay and benefits. “I am over the moon,” said Smith, 35, by telephone Friday. “We have been fighting five years for this.” The judge also ordered Fire Department personnel to take anti-discrimination training. Smith's Fort Lauderdale-based attorney William Amlong said the order represents the second half of the award Smith expected from her July 2011 lawsuit. Her suit claimed she suffered sexual harassment at the hands of lieutenants and chiefs of the New Smyrna Beach Fire Department. She then endured retaliation and was eventually fired when she complained about the treatment, the suit claims. “There are no words to describe the feeling that the jury found the city guilty, and the judge also found they violated the law,” Smith said. A jury of seven women and one man deliberated for two hours before awarding the monetary damages for back wages and emotional distress to Smith on Feb. 26. “This tells the New Smyrna Beach Fire Department welcome to the 21st century,” Amlong said. “Being a firefighter is as good a job as there is and there is no reason in the world why women should be denied access to it.” City Attorney Frank Gummey said the city has previously announced it would appeal the jury's verdict and included in that appeal will be a challenge of Dalton's order. When asked if the city will comply with the reinstatement deadline, New Smyrna Beach Fire Chief David McCallister said his department will follow the instructions of its legal team provided by the Florida League of Cities Florida Municipal Insurance Trust. “We will wait until the appeals process is completed before we take action,” the chief said. City Manager Pam Brangaccio was out of town Friday and unavailable for comment. The original lawsuit complaint filed July 6, 2011, said Smith was told by Battalion Chief Mike Coats that “women should not be in the fire service.” The suit also claimed Smith was harassed and treated poorly by Coats, as well as other male firefighters, because of her gender. After complaining about gender discrimination, Smith was suspended indefinitely and fired in 2008. Coats has since retired. In Friday's order, Judge Dalton of the Orlando Division of the Middle District of Florida said the city opposed reinstatement on the ground “there is such animosity between (Smith) and the employees of the city that (her) reinstatement would ‘create nothing but chaos.' ” Dalton found only reinstatement would make (Smith) whole. His order said that if the city was required to face financial consequences instead of rehiring her, Smith's antagonists would accomplish what they set out to do: impose a “He-Man Woman Hater's Club” at the department. Smith “would win the battle, but lose the war.” “Reinstatement is therefore necessary,” he said. Dalton did not buy the city's argument there was no position available or funds to hire another person into the Fire Department. He said that during an April 26 hearing he found City Manager Brangaccio's testimony “incredible, as she was evasive, hostile, and internally contradictory. ... refusing to answer questions, requiring the Court's intervention.” The firing of Smith came before Brangaccio's tenure as city manager. Dalton added Brangaccio stated during testimony that the department had 39 employees, then later said there were 40 employees. The judge found the Fire Department budget allows for 39 employees and there are currently 38, making a position available. The city also argued Smith's September 2012 arrest on DUI and drug possession charges disqualified her for rehiring. Dalton said the fact that she was not prosecuted on the drug charge and the DUI charge was dropped — Smith pleaded no contest to a charge of reckless driving — makes her eligible for reinstatement. “There is nothing in the record that would support (Smith's) termination pursuant to the city's drug and alcohol policy,” his order said. Dalton said the city was within its rights to require Smith's rehiring be contingent with the reinstatement of her paramedic's privileges, which the court believed were suspended due to the discriminatory behavior against her. Dalton also ordered the city implement anti-discrimination training by the end of the year, requiring all Fire Department personnel to take classes that cover what behaviors violate federal laws. Smith is married to Lt. Jeremy Smith with Volusia County Fire Services and is the daughter of former Edgewater Chief of Police and current City Councilman Mike Ignasiak. She said she plans on continuing her work as an emergency room nurse at Halifax Health Medical Center in Port Orange when she is reinstated as a firefighter. Her rehiring would make Smith New Smyrna Beach's only female firefighter.

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